Sunday, 3 January 2016

My 2016 Travel Plans and Wishes.

It's that time of year again! After an epic 2015 which saw me visit four new countries, go on three press trips, and have a total of 10 trips outside of London, all while having a full-time job, I'm hoping 2016 will be even bigger and better! I already have a couple of holidays and trips booked in for 2016, and then of course there are my ideas and destinations that are perhaps a little adventurous and out of reach. So without further ado...

Thailand has been on my 'to-visit' list for a long time for one reason only - elephants, and the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai. To be honest I've never really thought about visiting other areas of Thailand, but when I was invited to spend a few days in Bangkok in January on a press trip, I investigated a bit more and spoke to friends who had been, and every single one of them said the same thing; 'It's amazing, you'll love it, GO!'. So I said yes. I'm also tagging Chiang Mai onto the end of the trip, so I'll be exploring Bangkok and ticking Chiang Mai and the Elephant Nature Park off my list! To say I'm excited is an understatement.

Paris

I'm off to Paris again enroute to Thailand (see above)! This will be my sixth time in Paris, so I'm basically just going to spend my short time there eating all the food.

Marrakech

You'll notice that this is one that was on last years list too. A year and a half after our Cuba trip, Jasiminne and I are hoping to finally get to Marrakech for a weekend in February! Fingers crossed!

I had the opportunity to go to Brazil in October, and stupidly turned it down because I was too scared to go by myself! I'm hoping I'll be able to go for a week in the early May bank holiday...I just need to find someone to come with me first! Anyone!? ;)

This is sort of half-confirmed, but I've been invited to spend 10 days in Antigua over the late May bank holiday (which means I'll only need to take 6 days off work - woohoo) in partnership with Elite Island Resorts! I can't wait to see how the Galley Bay Resort and St James Club & Villas compares to the Palm Island Resort (their sister property that I visited in Sept 2015). I haven't been to Antigua since I was a child, so I'm really excited to go back and explore it as an adult!

East Coast Roadtrip

This is still in the planning stages. I had NYC on last years list, and it's still on there. Ideally I want to do a 2 week roadtrip from Miami up to NYC, but I might have to do NYC and Miami as two separate long weekends if I don't have enough holiday time left.

Australia

I'm hoping to be back in Australia for Christmas next year rather than Easter to help with holiday days, so this is a sort of 2016/2017 one.

So, how did 2015's list go?

So how did I get on ticking off last years dreams? The funny thing is, I actually ticked off the big 'dream' one that I thought would be unattainable, and failed with ticking off the smaller European destinations!

I jetted off to the Caribbean, to the tiny private island ofPalm Island in St Vincent and The Grenadines for a week of relaxation with my best friend, and managed to tick 'swim with sea turtles' off my bucket list! However, I failed at visiting Russia (we had all of it booked, but then chickened out when it all kicked off with Ukraine etc), and also failed at visiting Chernobyl in Ukraine (for obvious war-related reasons). I also failed at doing my dream Croatia/Montenegro/Bosnia trip, and I didn't manage to do Iceland, NYC, Morocco, or Estonia.

I did however, go to Slovakia, Australia, Paris x2, The Grenadines, Poland, and Cornwall, and I even got to see a bit of Barbadosas I had a long transit when flying from SVG back to London. So I didn't do too badly! Last years destinations are still firmly on my to-do list, and I'm hoping I can do the European ones in weekends (I might even challenge myself to try and do 48 hours in each city so I don't have to use holiday days)!

12 comments

That sounds amazing! I love to travel too! I've got one trip planned so far, but this year I apply to study abroad in England for next spring so I'm saving up for that! A roadtrip from miami to NYC would be so much fun there is lots to see on the way! :) xx KenzieBehindhazeleyes06.blogspot.com

I had the same chance to see Brazil last year and also skipped it because of safety, but after doing the rest of South America I reckon I would have been fine - hope you have a blast, just be a wise traveller and you'll be fine. Thailand is awesome too, I used to want to ride elephants and stuff, but saw a documentary about how they make elephant's 'loose their spirit' in not nice ways for people to be able to ride them - it's not natural to be able to in the wild right? Don't mean to put a downer on that one sorry! Enjoy an exciting 2016!